Money helpdesk: Feeling dumped after scrappage 'theft' mix-up

I HAVE decided to trade in my 11-year-old Honda Accord car for a new one, taking advantage of the scrappage scheme. Everything was going fine until the garage carried out its routine check on my old car and said it was stolen and so the deal was off. As it happens, my car had been stolen shortly after I bought it all those years ago. I reported the theft to the police and my insurance company but some days later it was recovered south of the Border.

I told the police that it had been recovered and cancelled the insurance claim. I have spoken to the company I was insured with at the time, but it no longer has my records. How do I get the theft removed from the car's history?

WC

Ian Crowder of the AA writes:

It is difficult to know why your car is still recorded as stolen, especially after so many years. At a guess there might have been poor communication between the English police who recovered the car and the Scottish force to whom you reported the theft. Or perhaps your insurer didn't inform the DVLA of its recovery. A clerical error could also mean the Police National Computer was never updated, or that information held by the data checking firm is wrong.

The best place to start in getting the record corrected is to contact the data checking company (it could be one of a few) that your garage used – ask it to provide the contact details and it should be able to find out where the stolen record came from – and if it remains on the police computer, they should be able to put the record straight, although you may need to provide information to confirm the car is your legal property.